Egypt & BP Sign New Oil Exploration Agreement in Gulf of Suez

The Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation has signed an agreement with British Petroleum to drill in the Gulf of Suez region, Al-Ahram’s Arabic website reported.

The agreement was signed by Abed Ezz El-Regal, CEO of the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation, and Hesham Mekkawy, regional president of BP, North Africa.

Exploration will take place at North-East Ramadan in the Gulf of the Suez region, with $46 million investment and a $4 million grant to dig three wells.

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Tarek El-Molla said at a press conference that the ministry has ambitious plans to raise investment in the petroleum sector in Egypt, which will increase the domestic production of petrol and natural gas, as well as increasing the country's reserves.

He said that the new agreement is a result of the global bidding for oil exploration issued by the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation in 2016.

This agreement is the 88th since 2014, and the EGPC is working on signing 13 more.

BP CEO Bob Dudley said earlier this year the company is looking to invest over $1 billion (EGP 721.66 million) in Egypt this year.